Busting Brackets
Fansided

Big Ten Basketball: 5 biggest storylines for the league in 2020 offseason

By Collin Helwig

EAST LANSING, MI - DECEMBER 03: Luka Garza #55 of the Iowa Hawkeyes during pregame introductions before the game against the Michigan State Spartans at Breslin Center on December 3, 2018 in East Lansing, Michigan. (Photo by Rey Del Rio/Getty Images)
EAST LANSING, MI - DECEMBER 03: Luka Garza #55 of the Iowa Hawkeyes during pregame introductions before the game against the Michigan State Spartans at Breslin Center on December 3, 2018 in East Lansing, Michigan. (Photo by Rey Del Rio/Getty Images) /
facebooktwitterreddit
Prev
4 of 6
Next
EAST LANSING, MI – JANUARY 17: Cassius Winston #5 of the Michigan State Spartans (Photo by Rey Del Rio/Getty Images)
EAST LANSING, MI – JANUARY 17: Cassius Winston #5 of the Michigan State Spartans (Photo by Rey Del Rio/Getty Images) /

How Spartans move on without Cassius Winston

As arguably the Big Ten’s most complete offensive player from last year, the Spartans will surely miss senior guard Cassius Winston. Make no mistake, Winston leaves Michigan State within good hands as Xavier Tillman, Aaron Henry, Rocket Watts, and Gabe Brown all appear more likely than not to return next season.

But no matter how you look at it, when a guy leaves who once lead his team with 32.7 MPG while also averaging 37.3 MPG during the team’s finals games against four straight top 25 opponents, a sizeable hole following his departure seems unavoidable. Winston almost singlehandedly pumped electricity into Michigan State’s offense last year, finishing as the only Big Ten player with both top-five scoring and assist averages.

This leaves Tom Izzo with a tall task to almost completely rebuild the team’s offensive without Winston. While completely replacing Winston stands as an impossible task, most expect Tilman to step up as the team’s new leader should he chose to return for his senior season. Last year Tilman led his team with 10.3 rebounds per game and put up the team’s second-highest scoring totals right behind Winston. But to go from running an offense primarily through a point guard to one run through a less ball-dominant forward certainly comes as a big change.

The Spartans might take things another way and allow Watts to quarterback the team, but relying on a rising sophomore to take over from Winston leaves the team feeling a bit too delicate for comfort as well.

One might also argue for the Spartans to begin running their offense with a more team-centered scheme, but that ideology seems a bit naive and still brings about a tough transition for a team formerly possessing a player always available to lean on.

No matter how they plan to go about it, no easy fix exists to fill the void left behind following Winston’s exodus. Whatever adjustments the Spartans plan to make, they should prove interesting considering their potential implications.

Home/Big Ten